Princess Andromeda
by RibenaIsTheDrinkOfEmperors
Summary: When Annabeth gets unintentionally drunk and ends up in bed with Percy, she thought it was as bad as it could get. She thought wrong... Rated T for some swearing and sexual references, AU/No gods
1. After The Party

A/N: T**his is my first fic, and I have no idea how good it is, or how OOC everyone is, so review and tell me all my problems and make me weep at how heartless you all are. Don't expect me to reply, though, 'cause ain't nobody got time for that?**

* * *

Oh gods. _Oh gods. OHGODSOHGODSOHGODSOHGODS-, _no, Annabeth, you will not panic. You will calmly and sensibly deal with the situation. Then again, how does a 16 year old girl calmly and sensibly react to being pregnant?

I guess I should start at the beginning. It happened at a party in Rachel's house. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. One of my friends, a daughter of some sort of rich businessman. Her parents were away for the weekend, so she decided to throw a big party. As I wandered through the crowds, looking for my friends, I wondered if her parents gave her permission for this. I doubted it. She loved nothing better than to annoy them. I spotted Reyna, and quickly sidled up to her. Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano was fairly new, but we got on well. She was sensible and smart, and I liked to think that we were quite similar.

"Hey, Reyna, where is everybody?"

She looked over at me. "Huh, wha- oh, Annabeth. Um, Thalia is having an argument with Nico over music, Jason and Piper disappeared into one of the empty rooms together and I _really _don't want to know why, Frank and Leo are yelling at each other for some stupid reason, Hazel went to the toilet, Percy is getting drinks, and I have no idea about Rachel. Grover didn't come."

"What was that about me?" Percy Jackson himself had appeared behind us with that stupid smirk on his face. Let me explain about Percy. We have been best friends since kindergarten, and we ran away together along with Thalia when we were 7, him from his abusive step dad, Thalia from an alcoholic mother and I from a family I felt hated me. We were on the run for 3 months before we got caught, and after several arguments with my dad and step mom, who had moved to _San Francisco _of all places, I moved in with Percy and his mom. After going through that with him, he was like a brother to me. _Yes, _I told myself, _definitely a brother. I absolutely am not attracted to him in the slightest. _Oh, who am I kidding? Ever since we were dared to kiss at a stupid slumber party a few years ago, I've started thinking about him _that_ way. His chiselled face, gorgeous sea green eyes, that perfect, messy hair, his defined but not bulging muscles, everything about him made me want to drool. _No, bad Annabeth. There is no chance in Hades that he likes you back._ Maybe he was gay. In fact, that would make sense. He had always turned down every girl that approached him. Or maybe he liked someone else but was afraid to tell them….

"Wise Girl! What are you doing here? I didn't think you were really the party type."

"I'm here against my will."

"Thalia?" Thalia Grace was one of Percy's cousins, along with Nico Di Angelo and Thalia's brother, Jason. Don't ask why they don't share surnames even though they are cousins on their father's side. It's complicated.

"Yeah." I noticed the bottle in his hand. "What's that?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, coke. Want one?"

I shrugged and grabbed a bottle out of his hands. After that, everything was kinda a blur. I remember accepting a totally ridiculous number of drinks. I remember finally giving in to my feelings, pressing him up against a wall and kissing him with everything I had. I remember him dragging me to one of the huge house's many abandoned bedrooms. I remember clothes falling to the floor. And then I remember- well, let's just say that we got _very_ intimate. We somehow managed to get our clothes back on and stumble back into the party, then we walked home and I crashed on my bed. I wasn't quite sober enough to be thankful that my stepmom and dad were at some party and Bobby and Matthew were at a sleepover.

As the alarm clock beeped, whacked the snooze button and groaned. It was Saturday; I could afford to ignore my usual routine. Still, a shower might help with this damned headache- wait, _headache_? Suddenly last night all came rushing back to me. SHIT. I grabbed my phone and hit Percy's speed dial before I realized what I was doing.

It was just habit, I guess, calling Percy when I had a problem. When my parents broke up, when I felt like running away, when mom died… Percy was always able to make me feel better. But this involved him too… I made my decision and was just away to hang up when he answered.

"Beth? What's wrong?" He knew me well enough to know I wouldn't call at 9 AM on a Saturday unless something was up.

"Percy…" I took a deep breath, "don't you remember last night?"

"What… Oh. OH. I am SO sorry, Wise Girl, that coke must have been spiked or something, I didn't know, I promise, oh gods, and I am _so _sorry for taking advantage of you like that and now I've messed everything up and you're going to hate me and oh gods-"

"Seaweed Brain" I cut in, "you're rambling. Just… where, exactly does this leave us?"

"You… You're not mad at me?"

"I was always going to lose my virginity at some point, and honestly, I'm sorta glad it was at least a friend rather than some asshole jock."

I waited for him to reply, but he stayed silent, so I asked again. "So where does this leave us?"

"Well…" He sounded hesitant, "alcohol only lowers inhibitions, right? It doesn't create feelings out of nowhere. So some part of us must have wanted, uh, _it_." There was silence for a while, before he asked, "Do you regret it?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah."

I sighed. "I'm not sure. I mean, I, um, kinda, sorta have wanted to do that for quite a while, but I didn't want it to happen this way."

There was silence for a while. I started to panic. What if he thought it was really creepy that I thought of him like that? What if I had just ruined our friendship? What if- he interrupted my anxious thoughts by taking a shaking breath.

"I guess I feel the same way."

"You do?"

"Well, yeah, you're kinda amazing. You're beautiful, way smarter than me, you're caring, you don't take shit from anybody. You're… perfect." He whispered the last word so quietly I could barely hear it. I was amazed. I would never have guessed that he felt that way about me, which is odd, because normally I can tell exactly what he is thinking just by looking at him.

"I just don't want to ruin our friendship. If we got together, then broke up…" he trailed off.

"Yeah. We need time to think about this. Let's just pretend it never happened for now, okay?"

"Sure."

* * *

I spent the rest of the weekend doing homework and yelling at my half brothers, and I had almost forgotten about it when the time came for school on Monday. I walked up to my lockers, where my friends stood chatting, avoiding eye contact with Percy.

"Hey, Annie", Thalia said, ignoring my glare at being called Annie, "Where did you disappear off to during the party?"

"Oh, uh, I just um, I had to do some homework so I went home." I inwardly groaned as I realized how terrible that lie was.

"Really?" Reyna said, "'Cause last time I saw you, you were pretty drunk, and I don't think that drunk people remember homework during parties."

"Wait, you _knew _I was drunk? Why didn't you stop me?"

It was Rachel who answered. "Some asshole dumped vodka in most of the drinks. We were all a bit out of it."

"So," Piper asked, "meet any cute boys?"

"On that topic, one of the cleaners found a mess in one of the beds in the spare rooms. _Someone_ was certainly having fun. Mom and dad were _pissed_, it was great. I wonder who it was, I want to thank them."

At that last sentence, I blushed, and unfortunately so did Percy. I prayed to every god I knew of that no one would notice, but, of course, _she _did.

"OH. MY. GODS." Piper yelled. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Wh-What?" I said. "Of course not, Piper, we- we- we wouldn't do that, would we, Perce?"

He was shaking his head so fast it looked like he was having a seizure.

"IT WAS!" Piper yelled. People were starting to look our way, so I interrupted her.

"Quiet!" I hissed. I took a deep breath and looked at them. Piper looked ecstatic, Jason looked confused, Rachel had a knowing smirk, Nico looked disgusted, Reyna looked disapproving, Leo clapped Percy on the shoulder and shouted "SCORE!", Hazel looked flustered, Frank looked like someone had hit him over the head with something heavy, Thalia looked totally unsurprised, and Grover looked thoughtful.

"We were drunk and stupid," Percy said, "And this is not up for discussion," I added.

Just then, the bell rang, thank the gods, so we headed to class, with Piper still asking annoying questions.

"How did it happen?"

"It just sorta did, I guess."

"Are you together now?"

"We agreed that we needed time to think about it."

"Was he any good?"

"PIPER!" I was sure my face looked like a boiled lobster at this point.

"Well?"

Considering that it was his first time, he had been pretty good, but there was no way I would admit that, so I told her I couldn't remember.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I struggled to pay attention in classes, and I was glad that no one brought Saturday up again at lunchtime.

After school, I was cornered by Thalia and Grover, my oldest friends, other than Percy, of course.

"I was wondering when this would happen," Thalia said.

"What?"

"It's been obvious that you liked each other for years."

"No it hasn't!"

"Annabeth," Grover put in, "You constantly stare at him behind his back. He constantly brings you up in conversation. 'Oh, _Annabeth_ was helping me with my history work', _'Annabeth _thinks this', _'Annabeth _thinks that', he can't go 5 seconds without mentioning you."

"Really?" I had never noticed this before.

"Yeah." Thalia took over. "Not when you're around, obviously. And then there's the way you're constantly touching each other. You keep whacking him, and hugging him, and he is always brushing against you when there is plenty of space-"

"Alright, alright. I get it."

"So what are you going to do?" Grover asked.

"We said that we would think about it for a while and then go on from there."

* * *

The next 2 weeks passed fairly normally, although I couldn't look at Percy without blushing like mad. I started feeling nauseous and getting stomach cramps on the second Wednesday, and when I realized that I was late, I began to get suspicious. On Friday, I grabbed Percy before he could start walking back home. "Hey, um, what were you thinking about the thing we discussed earlier?"

I needed to know if he really wanted to be with me before he had a child influencing his decision.

"Well, um, I really, really like you, and although I'm kinda terrified that this will go wrong and we'll end up hating each other, I was thinking, maybe, we could, uh, give it a try?"

I tried not to show how relieved I was. "Yes. Sure, I agree."

Percy let out a breath that he had been holding in. We both started leaning in slightly. I wanted to kiss him one last time in case he ran for the hills if I was pregnant. _No, _I scolded myself, _Percy isn't like that._

We stopped with our faces less than an inch apart. I could feel his breath, warm and reassuring on my face. I stared in to his incredible green eyes for a second, then closed the distance and kissed him. This was my first time kissing him without being drunk, or dared to, and it felt _great_, like millions of volts of electricity were passing through my lips and making my spine tingle. After a few seconds, or maybe minutes, or maybe days, we broke apart for air.

"Wow." Percy said.

"I- I need to tell you something." I hoped I didn't sound too nervous.

"Of course, anything. I'm still your best friend, right?" Having Percy there, reassuring me calmed some of the panic I had felt all day.

"Well, I've been feeling nauseous all week, and getting stomach cramps."

"Do you need to go to the doctor?"

I glared at him. "Let me finish, Seaweed Brain. And yesterday, I realized that I'm late. I was due on Wednesday."

"Late for- Oh. OH! So you think you're- that you could be-"

"Pregnant" I whispered. Tears began to fall down my face.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. I was going to go to university, become an architect, build something permanent, and now…"

Percy pulled me into a comforting hug. "Hey, you'll manage. We'll work it out. And anyway, you don't know for sure yet."

"I need to take a test. We need to get one."

The trip to the store went relatively well, although I kept glancing around worriedly in case anyone we knew saw us _buying a pregnancy test_. This is not how my life is supposed to be going.

We ended up with 4 of different brands to be totally sure. I decided it would be best to go back to Percy's apartment to take the test, Percy's stepfather Paul would still be at school and his mom Sally was at a writer's seminar.

Percy sat on his bed with his head in his hands as I came in from the bathroom, with 4 little plastic sticks in my hands. He looked up at me as I sat down next to him and he pulled me into a hug. "Whatever the result, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" I buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his sea-breeze scent. We stayed like that for a while, just taking comfort in each other's presence, until Percy said "That should have been 2 minutes." I nodded against his shoulder and turned over the first test. Positive. Then the second. Positive. The third and the fourth were the same.

"Oh gods, Percy, how could I let this happen? I'm supposed to be the responsible one, the smart one, and now I'm pregnant, and my father is going to kill me and torture you to a slow and painful death, and"

"Wise Girl, it's okay. We'll work this out."

"But how? And oh my gods, my _dad_, he's going to kill me and then burn you alive and I can't have a kid, I'm practically still one myself!" By this point, I was practically on the verge of tears.

The next words Percy said were the last ones I expected to hear. "We need to tell my mom."


	2. Meet Your Maker

**A/N: Last chapter, I didn't put a disclaimer, so I, RibenaIsTheDrinkOfEmperors, aside from wishing I picked a shorter username, do not own or claim to own the rights to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or the Heroes of Olympus series. Ownership of the aforementioned works goes to Rick Riordan. Sally is about 40 in this story, for reasons that will become clear later. Also, I hope that all of you yanks are appreciating my attempts to write in****American**** English. **

* * *

"Just think about it, Annabeth, she'll know what to do."

We had moved into the lounge and were sitting on the couch.

"I guess. So do you, uh, want to keep it?" I was surprised by the look of shock and hurt that flashed across his face.

"It isn't the kid's fault that this happened. We can probably look after it, and I know my mom better than to think she would abandon me." No arguing there, Sally was one of the nicest people I have ever met. "So, abortion just seems like murder. And adoption… after, y'know, _Gabe_, I swore that if I ever had a child I would be the best father I possibly could to them. I don't know about you, but I think I have to."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. We've dealt with harder things before, right?" It was true, in a strange way. The weirdest, most unlikely things happened to us all the time. Like when we were attacked by a delusional man who believed he was a general while we were climbing Mount Tamalpais, or when the ground collapsed beneath our feet on a trip to the Carlsbad Caverns and we spent almost a week totally lost and cut off from civilization. I could never understand why it was always me and Percy that landed right in the middle of every mess. Weird.

"Um, yeah." He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Actually, I'm kinda more concerned about telling your dad than anything else. He's gonna kill me, Wise Girl."

"He lost the right to make any sort of judgement when he went to live in San Francisco while we were on the run." I still wasn't over that. The man who was supposed to look after me didn't come running after me when he found the note explaining that I'd had enough of him ignoring me, he moved to a new city to start a new life without me. When Sally had found Percy's note, explaining that Gabe had been hitting him, Sally had immediately gone to the police and shown them her own bruises. He was divorced and imprisoned in just over a month, and taken Percy, and I when I found out my dad was gone, in with open arms. Dad had moved back to New York a few years ago and I was living with him, my stepmother, and 2 half-brothers again, and I guess you could say we had made up as well as we ever would.

Just then, the door opened, and Paul came in. "Oh, hey, Annabeth, what brings you here?" _Oh, nothing, just found out I'm pregnant with your stepson's child. No biggie, _I responded in my mind. What actually came out was "Just hanging out."

"You staying for dinner?"

"Yeah, she is." Percy answered for me and gave me a very pointed look. Sally wouldn't be back until dinnertime, so I would probably have to stay to be able to talk to her. I shot a quick text to dad saying I was at Percy's and would be back later. The remaining hours until Sally's arrival passed with a mixture of awkward small talk with Paul and playing Grand Theft Auto with Percy. I was in the process of yelling at Percy to get in the jet when Sally came through the door.

"Hey, Paul, Percy, I'm back!" She had been at a writers' seminar in Maine for the past 3 days, and she looked rather tired as she dragged her suitcase through the door.

"Oh, hello, Annabeth dear. I was just away to order pizza, how's margarita for you?"

"That's fine, Mrs Blofis", I said as I pulled a $5 bill from my pocket to pay.

"You don't have to pay, dear, it's fine. And please, call me Sally." I don't know about you, but I figured it was polite to pay for your pizza before you tell someone that their son has knocked you up, so in the end, I had my way.

Soon enough, the pizza had arrived, and we were sitting around the kitchen table when Percy suddenly said "Mom, we have to talk." It was unusual for Percy to be so serious, so Sally must've known that something big was up.

"Yes, dear?" Sally sounded rather concerned.

Percy looked at me, and I gave him a slight nod of confirmation. "Annabeth's pregnant." The response was basically what I expected. Paul's slice of pizza slipped out of his hand and fell to the table, his jaw dropped, and he turned the colour of snow. Sally looked less surprised, and she sighed. She looked at Percy.

"Is it yours?" She sounded like she already knew. She had been sending us suspicious glances all evening, and I guess she knew Percy well enough to tell that something had changed between us.

He gave a shaky nod, and Sally sighed again.

"I had hoped that you would be more careful, but I suppose there's nothing I can do about that now. How long has this been going on?" She gestured between us at the last part.

Percy tried rather unsuccessfully to explain that we hadn't been having sex as a regular thing, or even dating. "We don't… We haven't… um…"

I took over for him. "There was alcohol in the non-alcoholic drinks at that party a couple weeks back. We were both totally drunk without even knowing we'd been drinking, so we never considered, um, _protection_." I blushed furiously at the last word, and Sally looked slightly guilty. "Oh, I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you, then." She shot an apologetic look at Percy. "But how long have the 2 of you been together?"

"Since a couple minutes before I told him I was pregnant, or about 3 hours."

"I see." Sally seemed to be considering something. "What do you want to do with it?"

Percy answered. "We want to keep, um, it."

"Well, this complicates things. Percy, Paul, I'm pregnant too."

Paul turned, if it was possible, even paler, whilst Percy shouted "WHAT?!"

"I only found out yesterday, and I wanted to tell you in person. I was actually just away to say it when you said we had to talk."

I was amazed that Sally was so calm. "Annabeth, you should move in here." I was away to protest when she continued. "Not tonight, of course, but sometime in the next 9 months. I work right here, so I can look after the babies, and you two can keep going to school. It's not perfect, but it'll work."

"Oh, no, Mrs Blofis, I couldn't ask you to do that, we'll find some other way."

Sally smirked evilly. "Oh, don't think you're getting off lightly. You can stay up all night with them."

* * *

When I went home, I felt marginally less terrified. I hadn't been yelled at and thrown out for ruining Percy's life, and I had a plan. I never really felt comfortable in life unless I knew what I was doing, so knowing that we had a way of coping without affecting my school grades all that much calmed me down a lot. I had been told before that my biggest flaw was pride, believing that I could do better than everyone else, and maybe that was influencing me, but I was seriously starting to believe I could not only do this but do it well.

"Hey", I called as I shut the door behind me.

"How was your day, Annabeth?" My stepmom, Carol, asked me. I made sure she couldn't see my face as I made my way towards the stairs, so she couldn't see the huge number of emotions swirling through my mind.

"Fine," I replied in a falsely bored sounding voice, "I've got a lot of homework, so I should probably get started."

I ran up the stairs and locked myself in my room. It had been agreed that this Friday, 2 days from now, I would t, I would tell my parents. _Yay._ I rocked back and forwards and groaned as I considered the possibilities of buying a full set of body armour to wear as I told them. And probably a bunker for Percy as well, because my father would definitely go nuclear when he found out. _It would be best located at the foot of a mountain with a diagonally sloped entrance and heavy duty steel walls arranged in a – no, now is not the time for architecture._

I plopped down onto my bed and groaned again. Was it bad that I was more concerned about telling my father that I was pregnant than actually bringing up the child? Probably. But still, a baby doesn't have any motivation to tear off my best friend- no, boyfriend (I still got a tingling feeling whenever I remembered that)'s limbs. I sighed and pulled out some trig due in 2 weeks' time and began working on it.

* * *

I felt out of place as I walked to my locker to get my books. I guess it finally hit me that I was a parent now, and parents aren't supposed to go to school. Percy was at his locker, 6 down from mine, talking to Grover and Jason. Percy kept shooting me anxious looks, and I felt myself become irrationally angry. _Does he think I'm some pathetic bimbo who can't look after myself?_

"What?!" I snapped at him. He looked, if possible, even more worried.

"Are you okay?" His voice sounded so caring at that moment it would probably have made me want to cuddle with him for the rest of eternity, if I hadn't been so angry.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?"

I noticed Grover staring at me confusedly. "What's _your _problem?"

He started to back away slowly. "Nothing, nothing, no problem at all." By now, everyone was staring openly at me, and I had a sudden urge to curl up in a ball and hide. Everyone was looking at me, judging me, and I just couldn't handle it. I dashed into the toilets, hid in a cubicle, and began to sob. I heard the door open, and a feminine voice cautiously ask, "Annabeth?"

"Leave me alone."

"What's wrong, Annie? You know you can tell me, right? And don't pretend you're fine, 'cause you clearly aren't." Thalia. It was Thalia.

After a few seconds of silence, apart from my bawling, she spoke again. "Was it Percy? Did he hurt you? Cousin or not, I'll rip him limb from limb for you."

I took a shaky breath and replied. "N-no. It wasn't Percy. It's just, y'know, hormones."

"Hormones? Why would hormones be making you… are you PMSing?"

"Um, yeah?" It came out as more of a question.

"Weren't you really moody when we were talking about Rachel's party?" _Oh, thanks, Thalia._ "That was 5 weeks ago, and then… the party…. and Percy. No. Tell me you aren't, Annie." Her voice was dangerously calm.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I tried to sound as clueless as possible, but Thalia knew me too well.

"I may not be as smart as you, but don't patronize me. You know damn fine what I'm talking about."

"Look, just don't tell anyone, OK?" She gasped.

"So you are?!"

"Yeah."

"Is it Percy's?"

"I'm not a whore."

"Have you told him?"

"He was there when I took the test."

"How's he taken it?" This was starting to feel uncomfortably like an interrogation.

"Like the Seaweed Brain he is." Thalia chuckled softly and I opened the door. The sight of her black eyeliner made me think of what she would look like if she'd been crying as much as I had. I'll never understand why people wear make-up.

"But seriously, though," she asked, "how is he taking it?"

"Probably better than I am."

She pulled me into a hug. "Who knows?" She asked in a quiet tone.

"Percy, Sally, Paul, and now you."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Keep it. I'm gonna move in with Percy, so Sally can look after it. We have it all worked out."

She sighed. "Come on, you'd better apologize to Grover."

I headed back into the corridors and tapped Grover on the shoulder. "Sorry, man, just stressed is all. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"No problem. See you in-, um, biology, I think? Yeah." He checked his timetable at the last part.

"Yeah, see you, G-man."

I turned back to Percy and pulled him into a kiss. It probably lasted a little longer than it should have, but hey, it was only, like, my 3rd time kissing him properly. I pulled back to find our entire circle of friends staring at us, and giggled in a very un-Annabeth way.

"I may have forgotten to mention that we're kind of dating."

* * *

I was sitting at the lunch table, with my arm around Percy's shoulder, and chatting with everyone about various things, when someone who appeared to be dressed as a prostitute wrenched my arm off of Percy. Drew Tanaka.

"I don't think he wants to be around sluts like _you_, honey. I heard you got knocked up." Everyone at our table looked at me suspiciously. "Fuck off, Drew, and stop lying." Percy placed his arm around my waist protectively.

"Oh, but I'm not lying, honey, I heard her in the toilets. She admitted everything."

"Very funny, Drew, now leave us alone, right guys? Guys? Guys….?" Jason slowly trailed off as he realized how red Percy and I were blushing. I guess the fact I was avoiding his gaze didn't exactly help.

Silence.

"Percy, hon, you don't want to be with some dumb blonde like this, do you? You'd be much happier with"- she stretched provocatively- "this."

"Annabeth is NOT a dumb blonde! And for the last time, Tanaka, I'm not interested."

"Honey, she's definitely not smart if she doesn't even know how to not get pregnant." Oh, she went there. The only thing holding me back from punching that stupid self-satisfied smirk off her makeup caked face was the knowledge that destroying her with words would make less of a scene. "It wasn't my fault, you dumb shit, it was the drinks at that party."

Bizarrely, Drew turned the colour of snow. "Wait, you did it at the party with the spiked drinks?"

"Yes, you moron, now fuck off."

"Um uh gah. I mean, I wanted to see people falling over and spilling their secrets. Um. Oops?"

"It was you! You BITCH."

"Annabeth-" I ignored Percy trying to hold me back and judo flipped Drew, glad for once of the many hours I spent practicing martial arts. It was a weird thing all my friends had in common. She landed on the floor with an unpleasant crunch, and she looked downright terrified.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME, YOU BRAINLESS, AIRHEADED, THOUGHTLESS SACK OF SHIT!"

I was away to stamp on her face when a pair of slim but strong arms pulled me away. "Annie, ENOUGH. She's not worth the trouble." That snapped me out of it. When _Thalia_ of all people is telling you not to injure somebody, you know you've overstepped the mark. I huffed in annoyance and ran to the toilets before anyone could see the tears. We weren't exactly quiet, so now everybody would know, that I, Annabeth Chase, star pupil and goody two shoes, was pregnant. Fuck.


	3. Going Nuclear

**A/N: Sorry sorry sorry for the long time since I updated. My computer crashed halfway through the chapter, and having to rewrite something I'd already done gave me massive writer's block, but I've given you an extra 1500 words to make up for it. I know Annabeth's father and stepmother are OOC, it just fits the story better. Oh, and finally, I'm trying to make it authentically American, but I draw the line at using Fahrenheit, because is the most illogical and moronic system ever devised. EDIT: I fixed the stepmom name change. Oops.**

* * *

"Wise Girl?"

"These are the _girls'_ toilets, Percy, get out." My voice sounded a lot weaker than I had hoped.

"You okay?"

"Fine, absolutely great. Now the whole school knows that I have a demon child growing inside me and everyone probably thinks I'm a whore, just _perfect._"

"Annabeth…"

"That isn't even the worst. Now everyone thinks I'm _stupid. _I can handle people whispering about me sleeping with you, 'cause I did, and I'm not ashamed of that, but not using protection is so idiotic, and maybe people can see _you _doing it, but I'm supposed to be sensible." I realized what I'd said as soon as the words left my mouth. Of course Percy wouldn't do that. For all the shit I give him about being a Seaweed Brain, he is actually smarter than most people. It just takes _unusual_ circumstances to make it show.

There was silence for a moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I know you wouldn't do that, it's just, y'know, hormones. And the fact that my reputation at school has just crashed and burned."

I waited a while for the response. "Is that really what you think of me?" His voice was low and quiet, and I could tell that for once I had genuinely hurt him. "Of course not! Percy, if you really were that irresponsible, I wouldn't want you as a friend, let alone the father of my child. And I do. Not, I mean, like, I _want_ to be pregnant, but seriously, if I had to pick someone to uh, _impregnate_ me, I would pick you every time." _Pleasepleasepleaseplease don't leave me._

"Really?" He sounded happy again, if a little surprised.

"I mean it. I'm sorry I snapped, it's just so _frustrating_. There's no way I can apply a formula or strategy and have everything be okay, the damage's already done, and now there's no going back."

"You can still get an abortion."

"That's just as much a loss as actually having the thing. Just think, one day the little blob in my stomach could get married, have children, have a job, maybe even change the world in some way. One day it could grow old and die, and leave something permanent behind. Can you really kill that? It's a person, just not quite finished."

Percy sighed. "Come out of the toilet, Annabeth."

I groaned and opened the door, once again glad I didn't wear makeup, and desperately hoped that being found in here weeping was not going to become a recurring thing. Percy was looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

"I have no idea what to say or do to make things better. I can't relate in any way to having another human growing inside me, although I did see _Aliens_ once, and you know how much of a Seaweed Brain I am." I smiled a little at the last comments.

"You are aware you just compared yourself to that weird face-impregnating crab thing, right?"

"Oh. I didn't think of it like that."

I laughed and shook my head. "Of course you didn't, Seaweed Brain. And to make me feel better, just always be here, and always be you."

* * *

_Ugh. _That was the word that best described my day. It had been full of whispers and glances from students in the corridors and awkward questions from all of my friends. At least they hadn't abandoned me, or judged me, which is more than I guess some people could say for their friends. And oh, yeah, one other thing to make my shitty day totally miserable? I was going to tell my father tomorrow, but because I didn't want him hearing the whispers, I had decided to tell him today. Oh joy.

As soon as I got home I yelled something about homework and dashed up the stairs to my room, quickly logging on to Skype. Percy had swim practice, which meant he would be wearing a speedo right now, and obviously, that is not _at all_ appealing, and I _most certainly _didn't spend almost 10 minutes imagining his muscles flexing as he moved through the water before being distracted by the Skype tone. Well, the last part is true.

I clicked _accept _and was immediately presented with a rather worried looking Piper. "Hey. You okay?"

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?"

"Because you're going through a lot at the minute. I would be surprised if you were."

"Yeah, well, I'm fine."

"Your tense shoulders and general snappiness say otherwise. You can talk to me, you know?"

"You have no idea what I am going through."

"Maybe you should go to a support group, or something? That way you could talk to people who _do_ know what you're going through."

"No way in hades. I'm not some charity case." I knew I was being stubborn, but I really didn't want to "express my feelings" to a group of complete strangers, I wanted to snuggle with Percy and be told that everything was going to turn out okay. Childish, yeah, but Percy gives the best hugs. You haven't lived until you've been hugged by Percy Jackson.

She sighed loudly. "Okay, but I know that there's something bothering you. You can tell me absolutely anything."

"Why are you bothering me?"

"You looked like you were away to have a breakdown all through school, and you barely answered any of our questions. I just want to help, Annabeth." Up until then, I'd found the look of sympathy she was giving me infuriating, but suddenly it didn't seem so bad. Damned hormones. But then again, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to tell someone…

"I'm just," I sighed, "I'm just worried about telling my dad. I don't know how he'll take this. I mean, I'm not the kind of person this is supposed to happen to."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. He might be angry, but he'll look out for you in the end. He won't abandon you with this, if that's what you're worried about."

"Piper… He's abandoned me before. Why wouldn't he do it again?"

"Hey, things are fine with you now, right? He hasn't been ignoring you or anything?"

"No, but I've screwed up _massively_. If I even told him I had a boyfriend, he'd probably kill me. This, though…"

"Annabeth, you have _not_ screwed up. This is not your fault, and it _will _be fine."

"I guess we'll just have to see."

* * *

"So, um dad?"

"Yeah, honey?" He didn't even look up from his documentary on World War 1 trench fortifications.

"I have something I need to speak to you about. It's important."

"What is it?" I had his full attention now.

I debated in my head whether or not to mention Percy. I didn't want my father thinking that this was Percy's fault. No doubt he would blame him all for this if he knew. And anyway, what was I supposed to say? 'You know Percy Jackson? Yeah, we are close. As a matter of fact, we had unprotected sex a few weeks ago and now I'm pregnant.' No.

I couldn't think of any way to gently broach the subject, so I steeled myself and said it. "I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?" came Carol's high pitched screech from behind me.

"I'm pregnant." I was amazed at how composed I sounded, because inside, I was screaming.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" she seemed to be more disgusted than angry.

I sighed. "No."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Even if you are an ungrateful bitch, you at least seemed bright enough to use fucking protection!"

"Pun intended?" Oooh, shit, I should not have said that.

"How can you be making jokes when you have made such a fucking mistake?"

"Dear, I think we should discuss this rationa-"

"You're not keeping it. I'm not having your snotty spawn crawling around and keeping me up at night, and if you think we're paying for it you can think again."

I was shocked. My stepmom and I may have never been on the best of terms, but this, this was a whole new level. My dad looked helpless and almost afraid, and even though he was doing nothing to stand up for me, I almost felt sorry for him. "If you would give me a chance to explain-"

"Who's is it? I bet you don't even know. How many guys have you slept with?"

"Listen to me-"

"This is ridiculous, what will the neighbours think?"

"ENOUGH." I had had it with her shit. "This is not about you or your petty little worries, this is about me and my child and… his father, who will let me stay with him and look after the baby with me. You won't have to lift a finger, or even see it if you don't want to, so fuck off and let me talk to my father."

"HOW DAR-"

"ENOUGH!" This time it was my father. "Annabeth, don't let me hear you speak to Carol like that again, and dear, this really is between Annabeth and me, so could you, you know?"

She huffed and stalked out of the room, sending me one final glare.

"You say the father is going to let you live with him? How old is he, exactly?"

"You don't have to worry, dad, he's not, y'know, a creeper."

He looked, if anything, even more worried, and when he spoke, his voice was stern. "Annabeth, _how old is he?_"

I sighed. I seemed to be doing that a lot these days. "He's fifteen."

"Oh." Dad looked both surprised and confused. "Then how will he be able to afford-" he gestured to my stomach uncertainly.

"He won't. His parents will."

"He's talked to them?"

"Yeah."

"And you are sure that he won't hurt you?" When I nodded in response, a look of understanding flashed across his face.

"Is it Percy?"

What the hell am I supposed to say to that? I really don't want him to give Percy a hard time, but he knows how protective Percy is of me. I should lie. "Yes." Oops.

"Annabeth, did he force you into this?"

"No! It wasn't his fault. There were… someone spiked the drinks at Rachel's party."

"I see." He didn't look convinced. "And you're- you want to keep it?"

"Definitely."

He groaned and put his head in his hands. "Sweetie, that's a mistake. You've got your education, your life ahead of you. You don't want a baby at this age."

"I'm not getting rid of it."

"Then go."

"What?"

"If you're really determined to keep it, go."

"Why?"

"You're ignoring logic, Annabeth, no daughter of mine would do that. You have an hour."

And he got up and walked away, as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't made me feel like he'd just pulled the foundations of my life from underneath me.

* * *

The taxi smelled of damp and alcohol, but it got me to Percy's apartment safely, so I didn't complain. I groaned as I mentally replayed what had happened. I had stormed up to my room, grabbed clothes, books, my laptop, a few pictures of my mom and me, and finally my savings of almost $1000. I had hugged Matt and Bobby, and run out of the door before the tears fell. I knew I wouldn't miss living there, my relationship with my family was always strained, but that's what they were. _Family_. Weren't they supposed to support me and love me when it mattered most? The sound of the taxi pulling to a halt snapped me out of my reverie, and I tossed the fare to the driver. "You alright, miss?"

"Yeah, fine." I tried to hide the tremble in my voice, but he gave me a reassuring smile before driving off anyway.

I had texted Percy asking if I could stay, and he had replied that I was always welcome, but I still felt awkward as I rode the elevator up to his apartment. All of my worries and fears about this whole mess bubbled through my head, and I didn't realize that the elevator had stopped until I was tapped on the shoulder by an older looking woman. "Sweetie?"

"Wha- Oh, sorry."

"Don't be, dear. Is this your floor?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Thanks." Percy's apartment was only a few doors down from the elevator, but it felt like miles. Sure, I had always felt at home with Percy's family, even more so than my own, but at the moment, as childish as it sounds, I could only wish for my mom. My real mom, that is, not Sally, as nice as she is, and _definitely_ not Carol. She would never have thrown me out, never have abandoned me like that. Sally was _like _a mom, but that isn't the same thing as the person who taught me how to read and tucked me in to bed at night for the first 6 years of my life, who I'd always wanted to be like, and still do.

I still miss her, but the bitter feelings I had at the time, feeling like she abandoned me, passed long ago. I realized that she couldn't control what happened, how she wasn't even driving the car that she died in on the way to meet a client. I should probably mention she was an architect, just like I want to be. Some of my earliest memories were of thinking about what I would change of her plans, and, as insane as it sounds, she actually listened to what I, a child, had to say about her, a 34 year old highly qualified architect's designs.

Now wasn't the time to be moping about something that happened years ago, but I can't help but feel that everything would have been easier if she had been here.

I knocked on the door, and it was only a couple of seconds before it swung open and I was wordlessly pulled into a hug. I pulled back after a second, and saw Percy staring at me with a worried expression. "What happened?" He sounded so gentle and caring in that moment that I wondered what I had ever done to deserve someone like him.

"My stepmom heard me tell my dad, she flipped out, and long story short they said I could either get an abortion or go. So here I am." He didn't say anything, just pulled me tighter against him. Honestly, no words could have comforted me as well as a hug from Percy. After what felt like days, he softly kissed me on the forehead and took my hand. "Come on, Annabeth." He lay my bags down in the hallway and led me to the couch.

"I'm capable of moving by myself, Seaweed Brain." He chuckled softly and went into the kitchen, returning with 2 steaming mugs of hot chocolate, topped with marshmallows and cream. "Seaweed Brain, it's June."

"I know, but chocolate is-"

"Universal. Yeah, I guess."

"It's cold for June anyway. It's only about 10 degrees out there." I hummed in response and pulled him close to me as he sat down.

Percy kissed me lightly on the lips. I could still taste the chocolate, slightly minty, on him. I wanted a distraction from my misery, so I kissed him back, harder, and ran my tongue over his lips. He opened them slightly, and I thrust my tongue in, moving myself into Percy's lap, and soon we were having a full blown make-out session.

My fingers started to slide up beneath his shirt, and I began to trace patterns along his abs, and before I knew it I was trying to yank his shirt over his head. He grabbed my hands and pulled away. "Annabeth, don't you think we should slow down?"

I pouted. "Stupid sensible Seaweed Brain. Don't you want to kiss me?"

He laughed. "Of course I do, but my mom and Paul should be here any minute now." He wasn't far out; it was less than 5 minutes before they trooped through the front door.

"Hello, Annabeth dear." She glanced at the bags Percy had dumped rather haphazardly in the hallway. "Percy said you'd be staying for a while. Is everything ok?"

I sighed. "Not really. My stepmom thinks this is all my fault, and my dad told me to get an abortion. I read that stress is bad for pregnant women, and I would have been stressed as hell if I stayed there." Sally actually looked quite angry at that. It's not an emotion I'd ever seen on her before.

"You'll always be welcome here, dear."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, I just can't find the sheets." We were standing in what used to be my bedroom, and Sally was digging through a cupboard on the opposite wall. I had lived here from when Sally married Paul, or when I was about 10, dad came back from San Francisco when I was 12. Before that, I had lived in what used to be his old stepfather Gabe's place, although I gathered from Percy that is was a lot cleaner and less smelly than when Gabe lived there. Gabe was why Percy ran away. He was constantly drunk, and Sally had to basically act as a servant, which, along with her job, gave her absolutely no time to relax or enjoy herself, all so Percy could have a decent standard of living.

What she didn't know was that Gabe was hitting him, and threatened to kill him if he told Sally. But one day at school I saw the bruises on his back, and I got him to tell me about it. We ran away together, and Percy left a note explaining everything to his mom. Sally had apparently said Gabe could hit her as much as he wanted as long as he didn't touch Percy, and he had threatened to kill Percy if she left him. When she saw the note, she went to the police station on the way back from her job at a sweetshop and showed the cops her bruises. Gabe earned 10 years in prison and a restraining order, and Percy came back when he saw Sally's message to him in a newspaper.

"Don't worry, Sally, I can sleep on the couch."

"Take my bed." I turned to find Percy leaning against the doorframe, looking at me worriedly.

"I can't take your bed away from you; I'll be fine on the couch, really."

"There's no way I'm letting a pregnant girl sleep on the couch. You have to consider the child as well, you'll need your sleep, and you won't get it on the couch."

I bit my lip. "Why don't we just share?"

"You- you'd be okay with that?"

"I'm carrying your child, Perseus, sharing a bed isn't exactly a big deal."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." Sally, though, didn't look convinced.

"It's not like he can get me pregnant, or anything." Thankfully, she laughed a little at my joke, and agreed that it would be alright.

* * *

I came out of the bathroom, already regretting packing so few clothes. I was wearing only an old, oversized T-shirt and a pair of underpants, and while this would normally have been fine, _normally_ I don't have to share a bed with my boyfriend. I still felt giddy whenever I called him that. As I entered Percy's bedroom, I threw my worn clothes in the laundry basket and looked up to see him wearing only boxers. My embarrassment must have shown, because he said "I can put a shirt on if that would make you more comfortable."

"No, no, it's fine. Really." Truth was, I was embarrassed as _hell_, but I wasn't going to let that get in the way of my ogling. He had a lean, slim body, with defined but not bulging muscles. Perfect.

"Uh, okay. Could you get the light?" He lay down under the covers, pressed right against the wall, as I flipped the switch and plunged the room into darkness. Only a dull glow from the streetlamps came from beneath the curtain, and I had to blink a few times until I could see the bed.

A sea-breeze scent that was undeniably _Percy_ washed over me as I settled underneath the blanket. For some reason, right then it hit me. "Oh my gods, Percy, we're going to be parents."

"You've only just realized? And I thought you were a Wise Girl." He tried to sound upbeat, but I could tell it was bothering him, too.

"Oh my gods, I'm going to be a terrible mom. My child is going to hate me!"

"You won't be, Annabeth. You had a mother, I've _never_ had an example of what to do as the father of a young kid. I have no idea, no experience, and I'm really not ready for this."

"Percy, who's that kid that you babysit, y'know, from a few doors down? John?"

"Jake."

"Yeah, Jake. He thinks you're the greatest thing ever! Remember that time I helped you with your homework while you were looking after him, and his mom said he'd been waiting for you all afternoon? And Bobby and Matthew love you, you're great with kids. I'm crap."

"On the subject of Jake, you got him to tidy his room in 4 minutes with no temper tantrums. His mom said that you were a miracle worker, and there's no way in HADES I could have done that."

"Exactly! I'll be the strict, boring, one that it hates and you'll be the happy, fun one!"

"Annabeth, for years I resented my mom for living with Gabe, even though it's what she thought was best. But I always loved her. Nobody's parents are perfect, but love her, and she'll love you."

"She? It's a she now?"

"I have a feeling it'll be a girl."

"When have your 'feelings' ever been accurate?"

"When I said that Luke and Thalia's relationship would crash and burn."

"That was once."

"And this is twice. I can just tell it's a girl."

I groaned. "How can you be so laid back?"

"I said I was totally unprepared, and totally unprepared is kinda how I do things."

I huffed. "Why are you lying so far away from me? I don't bite."

"Experience tells me otherwise." I could almost _hear_ the grin on his face, so I swung my arm in roughly his direction and winced when it hit his nose.

"Pervert!" He had the nerve to laugh, the bastard.

"I was actually thinking about that fight in 3rd grade. I'd forgotten about the, um, _other time._" I was incredibly glad it was dark, although my face was probably glowing with embarrassment at this point.

"But seriously, just because we're in a bed doesn't mean you have to avoid all contact. It can't be comfortable, pressed all against the wall like that." We hugged and cuddled all the time, even before we were in a relationship. I didn't see why this should be any different.

He shuffled away from the wall and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I was reminded of all the times he used to dash into my room and cling on to me like I was the only thing holding him to the mortal world during thunderstorms. I never got why anyone would be scared of a few rumbles, but Percy was seriously terrified of all things sky related, like flying, thunder, and apparently even birds. He'd almost grown out of it by the time we moved into this house, and I actually missed waking up and having him threaten to put a spider on my face if I told anyone at school he was scared of thunder.

I shifted slightly and rested my head on his bare chest, and my last though as I drifted off to sleep was that I really could get used to this.


	4. Midnight Ponderings

**It's been a month since I last updated, and I apologize for this, but I had a period of feeling really shitty, and I started working on a real, actual novel, so updated will probably be a little less frequent. Sorry for that, and for this being a little mini chapter where nothing actually happens. It's not exactly good, but I wanted to update this with something more than one of those goddamn authors note chapters everyone seems to have. Oh, and I almost feel like I should change the rating to M with this chapter, what do you think?**

* * *

I punched the pillow a couple of times and rolled over, trying to get into a more comfortable position. The glaring red letters of Percy's alarm clock read 3:41, so I wanted to fall back to sleep soon and get a couple more hours before getting up for school at 6.

But I kept on thinking. There was a human being growing in my stomach. In less than 9 months, it was going to pop out and I would have a baby. A real, actual, living baby, and I would have to feed it (that was going to be awkward), change its nappies (yuck), look after it, and then it would get older, and I'd be helping it with homework, and then older again, and I'd be… well, I don't know, because I hadn't really got there yet. And above all, I'd be making it feel more loved and cared for than my father ever had to me. I had no illusions about bringing up a child being all playing at the park and hearing first words; it'd be, messy and tiring, and knowing the child's father, he or she will be incredibly prone to getting into trouble.

But all the good stuff would be there too, and I had people to help me. Sally, and Paul, and Percy. _Percy. _I couldn't help but think about how this would change things between us. Sure, we were close, but raising a baby together requires a little more than friendship. He was my boyfriend now. I still couldn't believe that something I had been wanting for so long, but never expected to actually happen, had, well, happened.

But in the time he'd been 'dating' me (is it still called dating if you've never been on a date?), we had never gone further than making out. Once. Did I actually want more? Did Percy? Would he think I was ugly after I gave birth? _One at a time, Annabeth. _Percy always seemed to find the best in people, so if he really thought I was ugly after having the child HE put in me, I wasn't nearly as good a judge of character as I thought. Did I want more? I tried to tell myself _no_, I was too responsible, too young, even, but the real answer was _gods yes. _The hazy memories of him naked and underneath me only made it worse. Now I knew what I was missing, unlike all the times I, ahem, _fantasized_ about him, with the hairbrush and the PlayStation contr… I should probably leave out the details.

But what about Percy? Did he want the same things? And that was hardly the most important thing anyway. How would having a baby affect our friendship, probably the thing I valued most in the world? Maybe it would bring us closer. After all, we would have something in common, something made out of both of us, but on the other hand, maybe it would drive us apart. We'd always fought a lot, and having to bring a child up together could very easily bring all the little tensions to the surface. I honestly don't know what my life would be like without Percy to rely on. For all of my life, when he wasn't there, my mother was, and now she was gone, and Percy was all I had left. If I were to have a massive fight with him and-

"Wise Girl, stop worrying."

"Wha- I'm not."

"I can practically hear all of your thoughts, you're worrying, and you should be sleeping."

I glanced at the clock. 3:57. I really should be asleep now. But-

"It'll be fine, Annabeth, just c'mere." He pulled my back flush against his chest, so we were in a spooning position, and buried his nose in my curls.

"We really need to discuss a lot of-"

"During the day, Annabeth, 's 4 in the mornin'. Sleep now…" His voice was already muffled with sleep, so I figured I may as well try to stop thinking.

"You smell nice… blue… seahorses…"

I shut my eyes and had to hold myself back from giggling. He was such a seaweed brain. It must have worked, because that is the last thing I remember.


End file.
